November 05, 2013

The Technology Behind Health Care

Anita Petrilli '15

Anita Petrilli, Biomedical Engineering, 2015

Co-op Employer:
Boston Children's Hospital

Co-op Position: Technician Intern

Hometown: Braintree, MA

Anita Petrilli, BMED '15, always knew she wanted to use her love of analyzing and problem solving to excel in the health care field, and her co-op at Boston Children’s Hospital provided her with the hands-on experience she was looking for.

“What I really liked about (the co-op) was I got to see the back end of everything,” Petrilli said. “I got to see how many people use these devices and what some of the challenges are when dealing with this kind of equipment.”

As a technician intern in the biomedical engineering department, she was tasked with doing “a little bit of everything,” from assembling and performing maintenance on the medical equipment, to making sure the machines weren’t due for inspection.

Petrilli was part of a major overhaul of various medical pumps throughout the hospital, the result of a collaboration of three different departments. The old pumps were replaced by new pumps that use wireless software, so a pharmacy can see how its patients are being treated with the devices in real time.

“I would go on calls, and see patients hooked up to these pumps that I’ve been working on. It’s definitely a rewarding experience, seeing that your work is actually helping other people,” Petrilli said.

Petrilli plans to work at a design company for medical equipment on her next co-op in order to be involved in the product development side of the process.

“It was definitely eye-opening for me,” Petrilli said of her experience. “I’ll be thinking a lot more about how these products can be designed better.”